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Luria Freeman | August 12, 2016 - 3:48 pm

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CREDIT: Getty Images

In a recent Billboard cover story, Chi-town’s Chance The Rapper shared his opinion of how Mayor Rahm Emanuel handled the Laquan McDonald case, a teen who was fatally shot 16 times by Chicago police officers in 2016.

“In a time of crisis, he tried to be strategic, and he should have been more compassionate,” Chance says.

The Coloring Book rapper’s views on politics and police misconduct stem from growing up with parents who have always had their hands in local government. His father, Ken Bennett, who formerly worked in the mayor’s office, is now an executive with Chicago’s tourism bureau. Chano’s mother, Lisa Bennett, works for the Illinois attorney general’s office.

On a broader scale, Chance believes there needs to be national reform of the justice system.

“There’s a larger conversation that we need to have about police officers, their relationship to the people as enemy or executioner, when they’re not supposed to be either,” he says. “There’s also not enough pressure on internal organizations that are supposed to police the police and on judges in the justice system who are supposed to make reasonable decisions.”